This is just a shot in the dark, but I feel like the mystery disease is actually depression...This may be a bit hard to understand if you haven't ever been depressed, but here's why I think so...
Very first line to the song is, "It can't pay attention". And similar to depression, paying attention to ANYTHING, your hobbies, your friends, is hard if not pointless. "What slips into the system \ A light touch, a whisper that puts you to sleep". Every little thing gets into your head, and all you can do is sleep. And the last line of that first verse, "Don't sympathize with the mystery disease." It's impossible to sympathize with someone who is depressed because that feeling is so strong, it CANNOT be emulated, you can't bring yourself to feel the same way as someone who is depressed.
The second verse is interesting because it starts off with the statement, "All it is is a feeling" but ends with "Can't shake off the mystery disease." It's just a feeling, it's all in your head, and yet you CAN'T shake it off. It's practically controls you despite being a feeling.
I'm really not too sure on the third verse, but I think it's just talking about how you may get lost in your thoughts and dreams while depressed, but eventually you "...fall back into the mystery disease." It just sounds so dreamy and fantastical with lyrics like "Lovers in a past life \ Meet in the street close to midnight \ A last look sweet like the end of a dream"
The next verse is very obvious:
"Go on, tell your symptoms to me \ It’s not in any of the books you can read \ It’s no fun to face what you don’t get to be \ But what’s one more to the mystery disease?"
The symptoms of depression can't be described. They're so hard to understand and it may be different for each person. It's not fun to come back to earth and see what you thought of yourself isn't what you really are. But in the end, what's one more depressed person?
The next verse is simply personifying depression, and almost making it into it's own being, rather than just a feeling. "Floating impatience \ Snuffs my limited sapience \ Black smoke as soon as the pressure’s released \ Deep space sighs, the mystery disease"
The sixth verse continues to describe the feelings you get from depression. "Consumed by a weakness \ Cut with perpetual unrest". Such a good line, because you feel so week and unrested while depressed. You're just worn out and feel like everything is crashing down. The last two lines of this verse... "You see stars, sunsets blurred through a screen, Trap what you want, waste what you need" These two lines are talking about how you lose sense of what's important. You take what seems best, and ignore what is necessary to get past the depression.
The 7th and final verse is simply expressing the fact that anyone and everyone is capable of becoming depressed. "Emporers of history fall to their knees." And once you're depressed, you have an altered sense of reality.
"can’t see the wood for the trees, \ Left in the dust of the mystery disease"
Just my interpretation of this, hope it made sense, I was a bit rushed when I wrote it!
This is just a shot in the dark, but I feel like the mystery disease is actually depression...This may be a bit hard to understand if you haven't ever been depressed, but here's why I think so...
Very first line to the song is, "It can't pay attention". And similar to depression, paying attention to ANYTHING, your hobbies, your friends, is hard if not pointless. "What slips into the system \ A light touch, a whisper that puts you to sleep". Every little thing gets into your head, and all you can do is sleep. And the last line of that first verse, "Don't sympathize with the mystery disease." It's impossible to sympathize with someone who is depressed because that feeling is so strong, it CANNOT be emulated, you can't bring yourself to feel the same way as someone who is depressed.
The second verse is interesting because it starts off with the statement, "All it is is a feeling" but ends with "Can't shake off the mystery disease." It's just a feeling, it's all in your head, and yet you CAN'T shake it off. It's practically controls you despite being a feeling.
I'm really not too sure on the third verse, but I think it's just talking about how you may get lost in your thoughts and dreams while depressed, but eventually you "...fall back into the mystery disease." It just sounds so dreamy and fantastical with lyrics like "Lovers in a past life \ Meet in the street close to midnight \ A last look sweet like the end of a dream"
The next verse is very obvious: "Go on, tell your symptoms to me \ It’s not in any of the books you can read \ It’s no fun to face what you don’t get to be \ But what’s one more to the mystery disease?" The symptoms of depression can't be described. They're so hard to understand and it may be different for each person. It's not fun to come back to earth and see what you thought of yourself isn't what you really are. But in the end, what's one more depressed person?
The next verse is simply personifying depression, and almost making it into it's own being, rather than just a feeling. "Floating impatience \ Snuffs my limited sapience \ Black smoke as soon as the pressure’s released \ Deep space sighs, the mystery disease"
The sixth verse continues to describe the feelings you get from depression. "Consumed by a weakness \ Cut with perpetual unrest". Such a good line, because you feel so week and unrested while depressed. You're just worn out and feel like everything is crashing down. The last two lines of this verse... "You see stars, sunsets blurred through a screen, Trap what you want, waste what you need" These two lines are talking about how you lose sense of what's important. You take what seems best, and ignore what is necessary to get past the depression.
The 7th and final verse is simply expressing the fact that anyone and everyone is capable of becoming depressed. "Emporers of history fall to their knees." And once you're depressed, you have an altered sense of reality. "can’t see the wood for the trees, \ Left in the dust of the mystery disease"
Just my interpretation of this, hope it made sense, I was a bit rushed when I wrote it!